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​What should be the SCCT service/process scope?

Design services/processes of a Supply Chain Control Tower

Many SC Control Towers and  4PLs started with and still have transport management, sometimes including order management, as their primary supply chain focus. Sometimes warehouse management and/or supply chain planning is added to the scope or the focus is on end-to-end SC orchestration. Here the main trends regarding the demand for SC Control Tower services and supply of these services by 4PLs are summarized.

Process & Business rules

Trends (demand side)​

  • Extension SC scope (not only TM), e.g. inbound order and warehouse management

  • Need for hybrid solutions based on SC characteristics, regional differences and benefits/road map

  • Customer-centric solutions, e.g. industry specific services

  • Service consistency, flexibility and responsiveness, e.g. more focus on tactical planning and continuous improvement

  • Proactive, data-driven insights, e.g. carrier integration/ performance reporting and data analytics in general

  • Contribution to sustainability objectives, e.g. reporting, network design and planning

  • Risk management support

Trends (supply side)​

  • More 3PLs offering 4PL services, focus on optimisation

  • Extension of service scope

  • Even more focus on systems and data

  • Operational tasks being centralised and performed by staff in low cost countries

  • Environmental impact integrated in current services

Challenge: balance of need for industry/customer specific services and standardisation, centralisation and automation of activities

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